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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#277: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ReedsyWicked to share your stories (and potentially get featured on our social accounts)!

If you’re a musical lover like me, you’ve probably marked your calendar for the release date of the upcoming Wicked film adaptation. With gorgeous costumes, a superstar cast, and new renditions of beloved songs like “Defying Gravity,” the movie is sure to be a treat for Wicked fans around the world.

I first saw the Wicked musical in my late teens, and although more than a decade has passed since then, I’ll never forget how much it moved me. In addition to its breathtaking special effects and impressive performances, the musical also has heart. It shows the origin story of a notorious fictional character, the Wicked Witch of the West, and explores relatable, resonant themes — from identity and self-acceptance to the notion of “good” versus “evil.”

This week, let’s conjure up some stories inspired by Wicked. Set your story in a fairy tale land, write about a misunderstood, overlooked character, or do something completely unexpected with the prompts… it’s up to you!

This week's prompts

Write a story about an outsider or social outcast who will do anything to fit in.

Angst – 40 stories

Start or end your story with two friends who become enemies/rivals, or vice versa.

Dramatic – 22 stories

Write from the POV of a fairy tale character sharing their side of the story.

Short Story – 110 stories

Center your story around a character who longs for something they’ve lost.

Dramatic – 86 stories

Write a story with the word “wicked” in the title.

Short Story – 65 stories

Stories

“Trust me, She Had To Die. ” by Graceann Cleator

Submitted to Contest #277

Everyone in the kingdom wanted me to die, and it was all because of her. Snow White. That manipulative teenage girl. She created my evil persona, making my own people turn against me. It started out as rumors that I had caused the death of the king, but then the stories about me started to escalate. Her rumors spread through the kingdom like a mutating virus, with everyone having their own version of events, all circling the murderous intentions I supposedly had. I used to be Queen Regina White, but now no one will remember my name. They tho...

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“I Baked This House for You” by Jason A. Smith

Submitted to Contest #277

I found a toy of yours.I was cleaning for once, brushing under that old wicker sofa I hate—the one with the cushions I stole from a farmer’s porch back when I had nothing. I was sweeping under it when I found your little gingerbread house, barely the size of my fist, still covered in that rot-slowing glue. There was a hole in its roof, and the front door jiggled inside, but it was fine otherwise. I picked it up, stared at it for a while, then I sat down on those old, stolen cushions.I sat there while the sun rose and the sun fell.I sat there...

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“Wonderlands Newest Friend” by Autumn DeCesaro

Submitted to Contest #277

It was a strange day in Wonderland. The Glasses Birds were chirping, the shovel birds were digging, and you could hear the glorious singing flower garden off in the distance. Wonderland developed a silly atmosphere from beyond the keyhole that opened up to a world of magic. There has been a lot more maniacal, but friendly, shenanigans going on from the shores of the Walrus and the Carpenter to the Red Queens Garden gates ever since Hare found those new wild berries in the Tulgey Woods. Hare and Alice stumbled upon the berry while they were o...

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“Of Spindles, Scales, and Thorns” by Hanaa S

Submitted to Contest #277

The white milk dribbled down Thornveil’s sharp teeth. Fresh red, stood bright against her light fur, vibrant and taunting, as if a fragile string was dangling… The light patter of Aurora’s feet, signaling that she was awake, shoo-ed Thornveil into her corner of the room, tail standing straight, with the bustling servants entering the room. The sunlight streamed through the mesh curtains (the purpose of which seemed pointless), with the maids immediately tending to the princess. She was bathed, briskly tucked into layer after laye...

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“This & That in Jakob Grimm’s Notebook” by Naomi Klouda

Submitted to Contest #277

Jakob Grimm presented at the Guttenberg Fairy Tale Symposium on October 15, 1862. Dear brother Wilhelm Grimm passed from this earth three years previous, so Jakob stood alone. “Here is the story of Drizella’s Toe, an odd tale of authorial prerogative and scholarly judgment. I ask you to hear the story and decide whether we were not most ardently faithful to the original tale as told to my late brother and me. Here is what occurred…” Once upon a time as I stood in deep contemplation before a churchyard grave, I heard a voice through the mor...

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“Goldilocks and the Wolf” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #277

The wolf liked chasing this particular boy. He helped the three little pigs, didn’t he? He helped them rebuild that house of straw and that house of sticks every single time. Otherwise, the wolf might have had more chance of piglet for lunch—or maybe several lunches if it was the really plump juicy pig—long before now.Close enough that he knew the boy could smell his hot breath, he enjoyed inhaling the tempting aroma of fear as he chased, even if experience told him that he wasn’t likely to be able to bite that ankle or that leg or anyt...

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“Hook” by Inaara Busari

Submitted to Contest #277

Hook Once upon a time, Hook went by another name: George. Captain George Carter. Captain George Carter was a gentleman of distinguished background, and between his duties for The East India Company and his family life, he was utterly content. He lived chiefly for his wife, and his small boy – Tommy. Tommy was six years old when he passed on. George hadn’t been there. Tommy had been with his mother, playing on the beach, not too close to the water – neither of them could swim. A formation of rockpools clustered by the end of the bay, and Moth...

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“The Innkeeper's Soup” by Cathy Ramos

Submitted to Contest #277

I have no idea how long I've been here, but it feels as though years have passed. I don't sleep. I don't eat. I only cook.The witch who has me in her involuntary employ is an unusually ugly woman, with a face so grotesque it's almost comical. She wears an outdated, massive escoffion atop her head that doesn't detract from the unsightliness of her face, but it does distract from it. Her clothes are ridiculously ornate. Lace and silk, brocade and taffeta, in a myriad of colors and textures that hurt the eye. The clashing prints do a fine ...

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“The Threads of Fate” by Delaney Fairchild

Submitted to Contest #277

"You don't belong to us Maela." A strong hand squeezes my shoulder from behind and I'm grateful to Kallias, my guard and close friend, for the support because my entire world as I knew it, is tipping, and I know in this moment everything is about to change, and not for the better. "What do you mean I don't belong to you?" My voice cracks with utter disbelief. Possibilities and questions swirl like a windstorm through my mind. Where did I come from? How did I end up here? but all that I can manage is "Why are you telling me this now? I'm seve...

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“Echoes of a Lost Desire” by Uricka Brown

Submitted to Contest #277

April 6, 1988“You're still in love with him, aren't you my dear?”Kuzgun asked in almost a mocking tone as he sat beside me in the garden that lays beside the lake in the forest behind Grandpa's old house that now feels like home as the birds chirped in the distance and the wind blew softly against their skin. “It doesn’t matter anymore Raven, he’s gone and I can’t get him back he’s better off with someone who trusts him and who doesn’t always have to question every little thing” Arabelle replied as she stared down into the clear stream as sh...

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“we couldn't see outside” by Sana Mufti

Submitted to Contest #277

we couldn’t see outside It’s an orange kind of day now that the wildfires have settled and infected the rest of the world. I inhale pinkish smoke until my chest feels strange and heavy. Imagine a leaf curling inwards from decay; I imagine this is how my lungs react to the new substance. “I had a dream,” I begin, all Martin Luther King Jr without the voice for revolution. ...

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“Is this all there is?” by Jennifer Braveheart

Submitted to Contest #277

These were the news articles I was reading when covid was first discovered in the United States.Following a rapid spread from its origin in Wuhan, China, the first case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as covid-19, is confirmed in a man from Washington State on January 20, 2020. The virus, which would spark a pandemic, was first reported in China on December 31, 2019. Halfway across the world, on January 19, a man who had returned home to Snohomish County, Washington near Seattle on January...

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“Yellow Tulips” by Nina Belladonna

Submitted to Contest #277

I had assumed it was my period. Heavy cramping, numbed by painkillers, with bleeding so strong it stained my favourite pair of jeans. Just the everlasting part of being a woman. After a few days, though, my period would gradually get easier, and in a week disappear into nonexistence again. That time, it was the opposite. After class, I ran to the university restroom. The cramps were getting unbearable and no pills would help anymore. Sitting down on the toilet seat, gripping the walls with both hands, trying not to crumble down to the floor,...

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“Still Here. But Not the Same” by Chay Renae

Submitted to Contest #277

(Warning: Contains death) Old age. An auspicious achievement earned through dedicated commitment. Or, perhaps, simply by fate. An indisputable testament to years of careful determination. And a rite of passage that many will never boast. But at what cost? What sacrifices are made, or taken, on this coveted journey? Like fingerprints, no two paths to it are the same. For many, though, it leads to a residential care facility. In other words, a nursing home. Places that are often overcrowded and understaffed. Funding is minimal and quality is f...

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“Deepest Desires” by Angi Rae

Submitted to Contest #277

The faerie appeared at my kitchen table one bright summer morning. I barely looked up from my bowl of cereal. Not because I expected a faerie to appear, nor because I really believed faerie existed, but because it had never served me to get worked up about the unexpected. And besides, there were worse creatures to appear at your table than a faerie. The fairy cocked one perfectly shaped eyebrow and shook his huge wings, painting glitter or other nonsense from the floor to the ceiling. I hoped that would come out, or I wouldn’t get my securit...

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$250

Prize money

323

Contest entries

120

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 22, 2024 EST

Won by Troy Phillips 🏆

Title: The Three Little Pigs Incident: A Building Inspector’s Report

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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